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Studies: Lambert Creek

Identified as both Lambert Creek and Ditch 14, drainage authority of the stream was transferred from Ramsey County to the VLAWMO in 1986. Making up just over 34% of the area in the Watershed, the Lambert Creek subwatershed is the largest in VLAWMO out of its 6 subwatersheds. The headwaters of Lambert Creek are Whitaker Pond in White Bear Township and West Goose Lake in the City of White Bear Lake. The Creek travels 4.2 miles from its headwaters before emptying into East Vadnais Lake in Vadnais Heights, which is owned by the St. Paul Regional Water Services and is the drinking water supply basin for 425,000 people. The Creek is sampled regularly during the monitoring season (May through September) in 5 locations along the creek. Lambert Creek is on the MPCA's List of Impaired Waters for recreation for E. coli.

Lambert Creek is essentially a drainage ditch with all its culverts and conveyance structures too small to allow passage by small recreational watercraft.

Several capital improvement projects (CIPs) have been implemented along the Creek in an effort to improve water quality. In the early 1990s, weirs were installed at the outlets of Rice Lake and Grass Lake to increase basin volume capacity that also allows for nutrient treatment and reduction. In 2010 the Whitaker Pond Project was undertaken to improve the pretreatment of runoff before continuing further down Lambert Creek. Streambank restorations have also taken place at the Oakmede flume and further down the Creek in Vadnais Heights, north of Koehler Road. Another streambank restoration was undertaken in fall 2016 for a section of Lambert Creek just south of Koehler Road. Streambank restorations are purposed to restore banks from eroding by stabilizing and armoring their banks. This is accomplished by replacing trees with deep-rooted, native vegetation, and stabilizing streambanks with BioD-Block, brush bundles and live stakes.

A multi-tiered E. coli study has been underway for the Creek since 2014 to understand the nature of the Creek's E. coli impairment and how to move forward.